What Was ETH Porto 2023?
ETH Porto 2023 was the first major Ethereum hackathon and conference to come to Porto, Portugal's second-largest city, running from 16 to 18 March 2023. Held at Hard Club — a celebrated music and culture venue in Porto — the 48-hour hackathon ran in parallel with a conference program across three days. Independently organized by Mario Alves (Co-founder, Taikai) and Sara Amaral, and hosted on the ETH Porto platform, the event focused on combining Ethereum with real-world use cases specific to Porto's most prominent industries: fishing, wine production, and agriculture. It also explored decentralized science (DeSci) and decentralized governance (DeGov).
To follow similar shows, check CoinGabbar's crypto hackathons hub and the crypto events calendar.
Key Themes and Event Highlights
The event distinguished itself by focusing on real-world blockchain applications rather than purely financial or DeFi use cases.
Event Highlights
- Scale: 270 hackathon participants built across 48 continuous hours, with project submissions and assessment on the closing day (18 March).
- Sponsors: Ethereum Foundation, Gnosis Chain, Ledger, Chainlink, Bison Digital (Lisbon), LayerX, Sismo, Pyth, StarkWare, Polkamarkets, Dataverse, StarkExpress, Applied Blockchain (London), and others contributed prizes and mentorship.
- Real-world focus tracks: projects tackled real problems in fishing and supply chain, wine production provenance, and agricultural traceability — unusual for a blockchain hackathon and reflective of Porto's own economic strengths.
- DeSci and DeGov tracks: sessions explored the application of blockchain to public goods governance and decentralized scientific research — two emerging themes in the Ethereum ecosystem.
- Bilingual event: the morning of March 16 featured talks in Portuguese, with English as the default language for the rest of the event — reflecting the event's mission to include local Portuguese-speaking developers and professionals.
- Organizer context: Mario Alves, who built Taikai (the hackathon platform hosting the event), co-organized as a Porto native bringing a major Web3 event to his home city for the first time.
How Crypto and Web3 Are Growing in Portugal
Portugal is part of the EU's MiCA framework, which became fully applicable on 30 December 2024. Under transitional provisions, VASPs already registered with the Bank of Portugal can continue operating until 30 June 2026. Portugal has not yet enacted full MiCA implementing legislation — the Bank of Portugal confirmed in January 2025 it was not yet authorised to process CASP applications. Portugal has been a popular destination for crypto entrepreneurs and digital nomads, partly due to historically favourable tax treatment. The Lisbon and Porto tech scenes host active developer communities. Blockchain solutions are being explored in finance, energy, healthcare, logistics, and supply chain. For more shows, see CoinGabbar's blockchain events hub.
Impact of the Event on Portugal's Web3 Scene
The event put Porto on the Ethereum map as a destination for meaningful developer collaboration. By connecting blockchain with local industries like wine and fishing, it showed European developers how blockchain can solve supply chain, provenance, and certification problems in the real economy. It also helped grow Taikai as a hackathon platform and strengthened Ethereum's developer community in Portugal's second city.
Why Sponsors, Exhibitors and Projects Should Join
- Ethereum infrastructure and L2 protocols: reach Portuguese and broader European developers building real-world DApps.
- DeSci and public goods projects: an event with dedicated DeSci tracks attracts researchers and developers aligned with open, decentralized science.
- Enterprise blockchain firms: connect with a builder community focused on supply chain, traceability, and sector-specific blockchain applications.
- Funds: discover early-stage European founders at a community-built event with strong local credibility.
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Why KOLs, Media and Influencers Attend
Porto is one of Europe's most photogenic cities, and an Ethereum hackathon there makes for compelling content. KOLs and media find a community-built event with a real-world angle that differs from typical DeFi-focused conferences. Coverage can spread through the crypto press release network.
Why Builders and Participants Join
Developers come for a structured 48-hour build with strong mentor and sponsor support, focused on making something that solves a real problem. Porto's creative and cultural atmosphere made the experience memorable beyond the code. Many left with working demos and new partnerships in hand.
Tickets and PR Offers With CoinGabbar
CoinGabbar offers ticket discounts at partner events and free or discounted press release publishing. Email event@coingabbar.io for more details.
How the Event Concluded and What Came Next
The event closed on 18 March with project submissions and assessment, and participants received certificates on request. Teams that built real-world prototypes for Portugal's fishing, wine, and agriculture industries left with working MVPs and new collaborators. The event helped establish Porto as a Web3 city and strengthened Taikai's reputation as the go-to hackathon platform for European Ethereum builders. Track upcoming shows on the crypto events calendar and our crypto hackathons page.
Glossary of Key Terms
- DeSci: Decentralized Science — a movement using blockchain and DAOs to make scientific research more open, reproducible, and independent of centralised funding.
- DeGov: Decentralized Governance — using on-chain tools and DAOs to manage shared resources and public goods without centralised control.
- Taikai: a Porto-based hackathon platform co-founded by Mario Alves, used to host the ETH Porto hackathon.
- Provenance tracking: using blockchain to record a product's journey from origin to consumer, enabling traceability and authenticity verification.
- Gnosis Chain: an Ethereum-compatible blockchain focused on fast, low-cost payments and decentralized applications.
Disclaimer
This page is for general information only. It is not financial, legal, or investment advice. The event described was held in March 2023; future dates and details may differ. Verify with the official source and do your own research. Crypto assets are volatile.
